Fire Flyers
The Fire Flyers are creatures from the land of Bracawea, although they have relatives all over the known world. In Elvish they are known as Draygonas. They are very similar to Flyers, with minor differences. 'Appearance' Fire Flyers come in all different colours - red, blue, yellow, gold, bronze, black, white, etc. It is very easy to mistake them for their relatives, the Flyers, as the only difference between the two races is that Fire Flyers breathe fire and Flyers cannot. The females are generally smaller than males of the same age, although there have been rare occurances in which a female has been larger than the males around her. By a year old, they are roughly 3 metres tall (roughly nine feet) and 5 metres long (about 16 feet). By 20 years old, they can be up to 15 feet tall and 30 feet long (they do a lot of their growing in their first year). If they live long enough, they can grow to the size of small hills. Their wingspan is the same as the length of their bodies. They have spikes running down their backs, at their jawjoints, front elbows, and two horns on top of their heads. There are two teeth on either side of their mouths that jut out, and they have curved claws on their feet. Notable Fire Flyers Jocabi - Jocabi is one of the main characters in The Fire Flyer, and has narrative in the story. He has learned the ability to talk, as well as the other abilities of Fire Flyers which are listed below. Jersal Jr. - Jersal is Jocabi's birth mother, who dies very close to the beginning of the book with her mate, Kilon. Kilon - Kilon is Jocabi's birth father, who dies very close to the beginning of the book with his mate, Jersal. Kalebo - Kalebo is Jocabi's uncle and Jersal Jr.'s brother. He takes Jocabi under his wing and teaches him about their world. 'Abilities' Fire Flyers have many abilities: Brute strength: Tremons, large wolf-like creatures which reside in the mountains and forests, are easily over-powered by Flyers and Fire Flyers alike, even those who are smaller than Tremons. Flying: Because of their wings, Fire Flyers are able to fly. Also because of their ability to breathe in places where there is low oxygen, they can fly way above the clouds without becoming lightheaded, giving them the ability to hide above the clouds from Elves who may wish to hunt them. Fire breathing: Fire Flyers can breathe fire, hence their name. The older a Fire Flyer becomes, the bigger the flame the can produce. As hatchlings, they can only produce smoke for the first day of their life. 'Mates and Eggs' When a Flyer finds their mate, the two will mate for life, unless one dies (in this case the surviving Flyer will mourn, but will eventually seek out a new mate). It can take years to find a mate, or it can be instantaneous. An example of a couple finding each other almost right away is the case of Jocabi and Braeda: Jocabi was only a month old, and Braeda was much older at 6 months. Just like with trying to find a mate, having an egg with their mate can happen immediately or it can take months, even years, to happen (it took Kalebo and Francia a year, but it was only a few weeks when Kalebo mated with Alionah - it took 5 years for Kilon and Jersal Jr. to have Jocabi). The gestation period for an egg is about two weeks, it takes a few days to actually birth the egg, and after the egg has been laid it can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week before it hatches. Hatching and Growing Eggs are tough for an Elf or small predator to break through, but are easy for a baby Fire Flyer to get out of as their legs are strong. Normally, hatchlings will not leave their hatching area until they are around a week old, but certain circumstances can take them from their hatching area, such as if they are chased by a predator whilst their parents are catching prey, or if they are forced to leave because they have been orphaned, like with Jocabi in The Fire Flyer. When Fire Flyers are born, their scales and spines are softer than their adult scales, but are still tough. The only spines which aren't soft at birth are the two horns on top of their heads, although these are considerably shorter in comparison to their heads than their adult horns. As they age, their scales and spines slowly grow stronger. If a Fire Flyer loses any scales while they are still small, they will grow back, but once they have passed the 1 month mark this will no longer happen, leaving the very soft skin beneath the lost scales exposed for the rest of their life. This is dangerous for the Fire Flyer, and predators and other hostile Flyers and Fire Flyers have been known to target exposed skin when attacking. This was the case with Wenra in The Fire Flyer, and ultimately led to his downfall when Ashai stabbed him through a large patch of exposed skin on his chest, piercing his heart. Hatchlings can hover from the day they are born, and are able to properly fly by the time they are a week old. This is completely by instinct, having evolved with the knowledge already ingrained in their DNA so they have a better chance at avoiding predators who could easily pick off a flightless hatchling otherwise. After around a week, the young Fire Flyer's spines are beginning to harden, and therefore they gain the ability to be able to retract their spines. The spines are there to protect against predators trying to attack them at their backs, elbows, or attempting to go for the jugular, but the spines gain the ability to retract so they don't end up getting stuck - for example, if the Fire Flyer was to crash for any reason, they would be able to retract their spines that were embedded in, say, a log or a tree, and they would then be able to free themselves instead of being stuck there. They can retract each spine individually, just as we can move our fingers individually, or they can retract them all at once. Jocabi is also shown to be able to do this, retracting a few of the spines on his back with ease and no discomfort to accommodate a saddle for Ashai (and for simply Ashai the first time they flew, not having a saddle just yet). He can do this for very long periods of time, even for days.